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May 2, 2006

G26: Red Sox 7, Yankees 3

0502, 8:30 PM -- And the second one is washed away -- postponed until mid-August.

Greg Rybarczyk, creator of the home run tracking device Hit Tracker, on David Ortiz's home run off Mike Myers:

Using 46 degrees and 16 m.p.h. wind in from CF, Ortiz's homer left the bat at 120.7 m.p.h., at an angle of 37.7 degrees (a very nice hit speed and angle for distance). It actually traveled 395 feet, and the impact from atmospherics were as follows: Impact from wind: -54 feet (as compared to no wind). Impact from temperature: -12 feet (as compared to a 70 degree day). If there had been no wind and 70 degrees, the ball would have gone 460 feet (this is what I call 'standard distance'). So far this year, there have only been 10 homers hit that had a longer 'standard distance.' Another stat: if the wind had been blowing out to CF at 16 m.p.h. instead, the ball would have gone 509 feet, and it would have landed about 25 rows up in section 37 of the CF bleachers.

It was sort of an ongoing evaluation process. How long was it going to take Josh to get up to a certain level? What's the acquisition cost of Mirabelli? What are our other options? The acquisition cost was pretty reasonable. We were at a point where it was getting into the season enough where we thought it was time to do something.

The Globe´s Bob Ryan called Brian Cashman and asked him about the rumour that the Yankes were involved in the Mirabelli deal:

I couldn't let it be just a one-horse race. They'd have to pay the highest price. Everyone in baseball knew [the Red Sox] would be calling [San Diego]. So if I could do anything to delay it or get the price up ... I'm not saying I did any of that, but that's my job.

In his last 15 games, Manny Ramirez is hitting .353, raising his average from .205 to .289.

0501, 10:12 PM -- The first one is in the books.

Before the series began, Joe Torre joked: "All the attention's going to be on Johnny Damon. I guess Mike Myers will be able to slide."

And yes, it turns out that the Fenway fans did cheer Myers, another Sock-turned-Yank. He surrendered David Ortiz's 11th home run of the season, a three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth inning that put Monday's game on ice. Thanks, Mike!

Down 3-1, Boston tied the game in the fifth, then went ahead with four runs in the eighth. With the game on the line, Torre relied, not on Rivera, but Sturtze and Myers. Not a wise decision.

The Yankees had only four hits against Wakefield, Timlin and Papelbon.

I was surprised to see that Mirabelli is back. Was this rumoured for awhile or did it come out of the blue?

0501, 9:00 PM -- My short take on booing: If this was 2005, I would say -- I would demand! -- that Damon deserves a 5-10 minute standing ovation when he walks from the on-deck circle to the plate. Once his at-bat begins, then we cheer strikes and outs and boo balls and hits.

However, this is 2006. We thanked Damon for what he did in 2004 -- including driving a huge stake through the MFY hearts with his Game 7 Slam -- all of last season. Looking at the calendar -- and weighing all of his comments over the winter and spring -- booing is appropriate.

Here's an emphatic vote for giving Damon one long cheer. He had as much of a hand in bringing the World Championship to Boston as anyone. He always played his heart out, and he was always fun to watch and have around. And he did the Sox a favor by letting the Yankees commit themselves to paying for him to give his declining years to New York.

I'll be very disappointed in Sox fans if they ever jeer Millar, Damon, Cabrera, Pedro or any of the Idiots, wherever they go. They earned our gratitude and respect.

I don't get why him being a yankee isn't enough to earn boos. And if you wanted to cheer him for '04, what were you doing in '05? I really think people are thinking too much on this one. (Including me, of course.)

Come on let's boo - it's really all in fun anyway. Johnny did a lot of great things in Boston, but he chose to sign with NYY. He's a big boy, he can take it, as long as it's all in fun. Kind of like the mock cheer Mariano Rivera got on Opening Day 2005.

i am not buying into all this 'look what he did for us' pc/have some class crap. WE KNOW WHAT HE DID FOR US. we loved him. that is why this hurts so much. he totally sold out. where the hell is everyone's heads? seriously.

dude got a cheer from us last year, from opening day till game 4 of the alds (i think we even cheered when he struck out with the bases loaded?). then (and i do not care what the front office or any other thing in red sox management had to do with this) george steinbrenner opened his wallet and johnny lept. you just like to think/hope that there is SOME loyalty left in sports in this day and age when players get paid like a million dollars a month (or thereabouts) to play. johnny seemed so genuine with the fans and with the red sox. like he was made to be a dirt dog red sox. and then he defected to OUR BITTER EFFING RIVAL. WTF, i'm still pissed/in shock that he is over there. it sucks.

jack, the only time any of our former guys would get booed is if they WENT TO THE YANKEES. can't everyone see that that is the only exception?? and it depends on the player as well. people aren't gonna get as riled up about someone like cabrera or millar going to the yankees as they would do pedro, or damon. it's just different.

i get the feeling that johnny is totally over us anyway. he so doesn't care at all. he's moved on, prolly feeling like a prince in new york, living it up, wearing his dress slacks around town with a-rod. he's a yankee now.

i thought that was a joke when i first saw it on bostondirtdogs but it's true?! AWESOME! kinda..hilarious in a way? like..why did we get rid of him in the first place again?

maybe now johnny will come back! hey, johnny we got one of the red sox 2004 world champion team members back! if we get millar and mueller again will you come back? then maybe you won't jump ship then? ;p

I have zero problem with booing him. He made his choice and that's his right—it's a business and he chose the higher paycheque. That's the rule not the exception, and I don't really hold it against players. What I do have a problem with is his constant whining about how the Red Sox f.o. didn't want him, his statements about how all his buddies should join him in New York, and other statements that make him sound like a jilted lover. You're a f***in' Yankee now, Johnny, so just shut up about what's going on in Boston. Because he can't, tho, is why I don't hold it against anyone booing him. If he'd just gone and shut up about it, fine, but quit acting like the $52M is some kind of millstone that the Sox are forcing on him.

For those among us who were ambivalent in their views of Damon returning to Fenway last night, Jackie MacMullan's column in today's Globe provides some refreshing perspective.

Give the man his due. He was instrumental in bringing home the championship that so many of us thought they would never see, one that my father and legions of faithful never did in their lifetimes. As Torre is quoted in the article, it may have been 89 or 90 years between flags if not for the role that Damon played in 2004.

My only beef with him as he made his exit from Boston was the incessant bleating about respect this, respect that, blah, blah, blah. If only Damon (and so many other athletes in similar walk year situations) would simply come out with an honest admission that it was, in the final analysis, all about the money, I would have had just a little more respect for him.

It's hard to begrudge anyone for wanting a bigger slice of cake regardless of who's doing the baking, especially in a game where the time to earn one's keep is often frighteningly short.

"They come and they go, Hobbs, they come and they go". I say let him go in peace.

You have to admit, Johnny's initial salute to Fenway and the fans in the teeth of the boos was a class act all the way. And I thought it made the boo-ers look bad.

I was shocked, though I should not have been, at reports that the Yankees were trying to snag Mirabelli, whom they have no place for, just to keep him from returning to Boston. This is within the rules but seems to be a particularly nasty-minded and unsavory tactic. Why not just allow the Yankees to bribe teams with dollars and players not to trade the Sox a player they want? Good for the Padres for having none of it.

Redsock: did you hear the Sports Center guys refer to Jeter's baserunning gaffe as a "Manny being Manny moment"? More grist for the conspiracy theory: now Manny gets ridiculed when JETER screws up. Even I think that's unfair.

johnny totally planned on doing that and i bet he was instructed and advised by joe, george, whoever to be 'classy' in the face of all the boston barbarians. please, it was contrived.

the yankees love to hide behind that fascade of 'class', but then they go and do petty, slimey things like trying to block mirabelli from coming back to us. its strategic, yes. but i think it just shows a shady cunning that they have all the time. things like that are why 'they suck'.

and all the boston sports writers/media are trying to put a spin on everything by saying we should commend and appreciate johnny, etc..show some class. it's weak. i don't get why there is so much surprise at all the booing. are people just forgetting all the things johnny said about never going to play for the yankees, etc?

all i can think as that people just do not get it. it seems so plain to me, but these meatheads on weei are like trying to make sense of it and it's just funny/weird.

Well, Suzy, I'm with that "spin" 100%. Damon's comments about not signing with the Yankees were rash and unwise, but they didn't constitute a moral or contactual obligation either: things happened, he changed his mind. And he changed his mind for an extra guaranteed year of employment AND 12 million bucks...I bet you'll change your mind for a hell of a lot less. People vow in church to love and cherish each other "til death do us part" and take "better deals" later: the guests at the wedding don't heap scorn on their heads. What I find astounding is the "we thanked him last year, we don't owe him any more gratitude now" argument. What a despicable attitide! Luis Tiant saved the 70s for the Red Sox with talent and guts...he went to New York in 1979 when the Sox wouldn't give him the money he felt he had earned. Who cares? He gave New England fans some of our best moments ever...I'll NEVER stop owing him, or Fisk, or Bernie Carbo, or Bill Lee, or Dave Henderson, or Dave Roberts, or Tim Wakefield and Schilling, and dozens of other players...including Johnny Damon.

So what if Damon's salute was "planned"? A classy act is only classy if you think it up on the spot? What kind of logic is that?

I don't think the Yankees are classy...I've never believed that. They've had plenty of classy players, like Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Rivera and Jeter...Willie Randolph... but they just balance out the jerks like Randy Johnson, Thurmon Munson, Jim Leyritz, Kevin Brown, ARod, and especially Gary Sheffield. Damon's not the brightest bulb on the tree, but he's no jerk. The Sox fans should save their boos for the Boss and the Yankees who deserve it.

Just when you thought you might run out of reasons to thank God you're not a Yankee fan, today's Murray Chass column in the NY Times offered this little morsel from the pea-brained Brian Cashman (aka The Mouse That Roared) on Mirabelli's return to Boston:

"I wanted it to hurt," said Brian Cashman, the Yankees' general manager, adding: "I monitor everything, and I knew it was an obvious fit. I wanted to make sure their reacquisition was going to hurt as much as possible....."

Monitor everything? He's nothing but a glorified cabana boy for Steinbrenner, one who couldn't be relied upon to find his ass with both hands if his life depended on it. If he saw Cla Meredith's debut last year, he'd know that he did us a favor by making San Diego ask for that rag arm.

Booing Johnny Damon is just simply asinine and shows no respect for our traditions of baseball, yet it does reveal to the whole country how Fenway fans (and thus Boston) remain simpleminded and parochial and stuck in a negative time-warp of victimization and nursing a deep-seated inferiority complex vis-a-vie New York.

Theo the Lion Hearted is the one who should be roundly booed for blowing up a winning combination, not to mention the boos he should have raining down on his arrogant little head for letting the Yankees steal Damon from us over a piddling few bucks.

Now he backpeddles and gets Doug M. back and what: are we supposed to call him "boy genius" again? What were they thinking when they let him go for Loretta? Don't try to spin that as a good baseball move. Look at the result and be honest.

Who is doing the scouting for the Sox? Are they paying any attention to scouting reports?

T.E. let go everybody who had any character in exchange for the faceless and boring Lowells and Lorrettas and Gonzalles: they are nice guys and decent players, but they can't cut it here, not in Boston.

Let's not forget the horrible mistake they made scouting Renteria and bringing him to Boston where he was like a fish out of water -- and they were told he was not a good fit!

How different would this team be right now if we had Damon, Arroyo, Mueller, and Mirabelli to begin the season?

Boo the GM formerly known as "The Boy Wonder": he is the one deserving of boos.

Is T.E. trying to emulate the Patriots or is he getting rid of any player who might steal his thunder around town?

^^that's just what i was thinking. yankee fan. or not a red sox fan at least.

this whole thing is starting to upset me cause i can't make sense of it and put this in the right way with the right words. but all i know is that i strongly feel that the boos were justified. that is the only way we, the public the fans, can show how we feel to johnny all at one time, all in one place. we (most of us) disapprove, are pissed, hurt, angry, etc etc. should we just stand up and cheer him because the media say so? hell no. it's like you can't feel two ways at all. you either have to stand and show your appreciation or boo or do nothing. you can't have many feelings all at once and have them all be justified (i'm thinking of what the media, etc are saying) because i appreciate everything johnny did for us. i loved him. but i cannot cheer for him signing to the yankees. the yankees have arguably the most potent line-up they've ever had and they are hungry for another WC. yankee management knew exactly the statistical and psychological rammifications this would have on 'red sox nation'. johnny leaving would strenghten their team, and weaken ours. there is no johnny coming to the plate for us anymore; stirring up that mythic memory of a grand slam home run at yankee stadium that all but clinched the AL pennant for us. the memory lives, but it is altered. the yankees have that energy now. and they have it to help them towards another world series title.i'm sorry to get all melodramatic about this, but i think this is a really big deal. a huge deal in red sox history and things to come.

and jack, i just wonder *what* it was that changed his mind. what things happened? this could not have just been about money. people are not that unfeeling and easy, even multi-millionaire athletes. are they? i think there was more involved, and he just did not wanna be here anymore.

and ok, maybe the 'we appreciated him last year' thing is kinda lame. cause i know if he had come back in a dodgers uniform or any other uniform, i would have cheered him heartily just like most everyone else would have i bet. going to the yankees, tho it may be tired and people are fed up with it, is just different. don't you think the rivalry is the strongest it has ever been? don't you think that is why people are reacting the way they are? we finally win the fricken world series and everyone leaves. that is the sad thing.

ps. and torre can shut the fugg up, we treated damon like a god in boston. please.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. I do respect the Yankees, and I like them as an organization, and I love all they have given to the sport, the great players and the great rivalry with the Sox, but I am a Sox fan through and through.

And it simply does not matter when I created my profile, private eye, it is totally irrelevalent. Just read the words and try not to think too much.

I'm just as emotional as any other Red Sox fan, I just have a different take on things, and I think my take is as thoughtfull and legitimate as anyone elses.

I always take into consideration the player's side and management's and I do not like the Sox's management at this moment. I think they have made huge mistakes that will come back to bite them in the ass, and I think people in the baseball biz are beginning to laugh at the "Boy Wonder" and the fiasco he has created in Boston.

And yes, RedSock, the Yankees stole Damon because we let them; I mean Theo and his brain trust did leave him out there by the curb.

And Who cares about Crisp? He's no replacement for Damon. Com'on now, if so, why alla the hurt feelings and the stupid boos?

And I'm not a huge Millar fan, but I do think they'd be better with him than without him -- better than with some of the losers they have on the roster now. How many players are they carrying that are hitting .200 or below? Millar had a bad year last year, but he still brought something to the table.

I'm still wondering about somethig I read, a possible quote from someone in Sox management about Miribelli and that "it was time for him to go." Did he piss someone off or something? Any one?

Millar was dealt partly because he cut up on late night TV and partly because of Epstien's "vision":

Feel free to correct me when I've been proven wrong. I will gladly eat my words. But I don't think I'm wrong.

Theo blew up a good team, and the team he assembled cannot compare to last years team. It is that simple. Talk to me in October if you don't believe me now.

If they go anywhere it will be because Epstein will try to undo his gross mistakes, like with the Miribelli take back.

Hats off to Suzy for trying to put into words the ambivilance all Red Sox fans feel over the Johnny D. situation. Who could blame him for taking a raise in pay and going to one of the great storied franchises is baseball history after the Sox tried to devalue him. They tried to do the same to Rodger Clemens: it's called hardball, and management plays it all the time, but when a player plays hard ball, he is a traitor?

Com'on poeple. It is still a business.

I think our team is in trouble, and I think it need not be that way. Why can't Sox management get it right and steer a steady ship? History doesn't lie.

If you actually are a Sox fan (though you seem the most pessimistic of the kind--and I also don't really agree with your attitude about Boston vs. New York and their fans), I apologize, but hey, I still feel my arguments hold. The results aren't actually in on Loretta (you can't just assume one month's struggles are indicative of the end of a very good career); the results aren't actually in on Arroyo. Wait.

Well, Millar, hmmmm, as much as Youkilis's start is not necessarily indicative of his yearlong results, his lifetime numbers are. I'd call him an improvement, wouldn't you?

You're calling Lowell a failure? Pena? Where do the numbers justify you there? Mohr? Replacements for injuries seem hardly like they should be counted quite so heavily (and thank goodness they moved Pena in there...wouldn't you say he's done a better job offensively than any of his fellow replacements?).

Epstein's philosophy/vision/thing also brought what is supposedly your team a World Series title. Isn't that worth considering? He brought you Crisp, Schilling, Foulke, and Ortiz. Why are you so concerned we're being run into the ground?

The numbers, I would say, indicate that Crisp *is* a replacement for Damon (if also a worse baserunner). I can't see how you would quantitatively disagree. I don't see how you can believe Damon leaving wouldn't hurt feelings by leaving despite the Sox getting an able and younger replacement. It's the frickin' *Yankees*. Of course people are upset.

What the heck is wrong with 4 years and 40 million dollars? That's not devaluing for an outfielder (no matter how good a singles hitter, with occasional power, he is) with an arm about to bust who can't throw.

I'm still in doubt on your suppposed allegiance. It's fine that you're willing to type it all up to prove so much that you're a fan. But heck, you misspelled quite a number of the players' names, including three in the starting lineup. I guess that's just another case of me "thinking too much".

zeke, we could have got willie mays out there playing center and i'm telling you--people would still feel pissed and betrayed over johnny. ok, maybe not willie, but seriously like..andruw jones, jim edmonds, torii hunter...no matter how great, people would still be upset. 1) cause he left us for the yankees. pure and simple. and 2) because of the *relationship* people *thought* they had with johnny and vice versa. there was an intense, seemingly true, connection people felt with him and it's a stab in the back to realize that it didn't mean enough for him to stay with us, and even had a sordid price tag on it.ok so, shit, it happens in sports all the time. that's what all the writers are writing and the radio guys are blabbing. well maybe it shouldn't. and besides, it shouldn't just result in an unquestioning acceptance of it. we trusted johnny with his word: that he would never go play for the yankees. it had meaning, it had loyalty. is that not what we want in our red sox players? we want them to want to be with us as much as we want them to be with us. and now it's like, everyone is pretending that what he said was just totally excuseable; like noone is to be held accountable or responsible for their words. when did words and sentiments become so hollow?

Johnny did a lot for the Red Sox. I was never embarrassed of being a Red Sox fan until that happen. It upset the Red Sox players--that love Johnny--and it upset the management. It made Red Sox fans look like a complete disgrace!

welp. that's reality. the players, the management..they are on the inside looking out. alot of them don't come from around here, they haven't grown up here and been a red sox fan. they don't feel the same way the fans feel, as much as they try to understand and empathize. and even if they did they wouldn't be saying so publicly; they can't.

-Of COURSE the Sox are better off with Crisp than Damon, and if Coco hadn't hurt his pinky, it would be obvious. It will be SUPER obvious in a year or two.-MILLAR? Are you kidding? He'll be released by July. Youk is a huge improvement, defensively and offensively.-Lowell is outhitting Mueller, is younger and more durable.-Uh, Arroyo was going to be spending April in the bullpen. Even with Wells' injury, he would have had three starts, not five. Who knows if he'd have performed as well?-Mirabelli for Loretta was a no-brainer. Wake has had good years without a personal catcher...heck, Scott Hatteberg caught him. Mirabelli is a 35 year old .240 lifetime hitter. Be reasonable. If Wake had gotten any offensive support, he'd have been 4-1 despite Bard's problems.-"Bad fit?" NOBODY predicted Renteria would forget how to field or knock in runs. So he's a weenie...good for Theo for cutting bait.

Despite Manny starting slow and a dead 5th starter slot, a non-hitting SS , slumps at second and catcher, and an injured lead-off man,the Sox are in first place. The big questions beginning the season...the health of Foulke, Schilling, Beckett; Youk's transition to first, Papelbon, and whether Lowell was washed up, all have turned up positive.

I picked the Sox for 102 wins, and I'm feeling mighty good about that prediction.

Well said, blueyez941, I feel your pain and mine too. The booing of Damon. It was embarrassing. In fact I would like to add that the booze fueled ‘Yankees Suck” chant is offensive as well. Many children attend the games and watch on TV, and many of the people chanting would not use such language if they were not drinking, and they definitely would not use it in front of children in other situations. It diminishes Red Sox Nation to the nation at large in front of a national audience. I’m all for better behavior, I’m all for graciousness and for being able to see the big picture.

I’m semi-critized here, and accused of being negative, for being passionate in my argument and listing exactly why I’m upset with Theo and management, yet many of you think it is OK to boo Johnny Damon? What could be more negative, more childish, than booing Damon.

Boston fans resembled churlish college boys with a sense of entitlement not so unlike the Duke Lacrosse team: they definitely need to grow up and get over their immature obsession with competing and losing to New York. It simply reveals an inferiority complex. It doesn’t help that the Red Sox have come in 2nd to the Yanks for the last, what is it, 8 years.

I feel your pain too, Suze, but when you talk about loyalty you must also talk about all the players who wanted to stay in Boston, expressed that, and were traded away by Theo the HardHearted: you can include Damon, Mirabelli, Mueller, Arroyo, Millar, and there are others I can’t remember. Isn’t loyalty a two way street. I would think that loyalty begins with management and works it way out toward personnel.

I can’t see how anyone could think that Loretta for Mirabelli could be a good trade or that Crisp could replace Damon. It is not just about statistics. There are other factors involved in forming a cohesive team. So don’t try to prove a point to me about players just by citing statistics – that is shortsighted since statistics give only a partial picture of where a player fits into a team and what contributions he might make to the team. You were still defending Rentiaria mid-to-late season, last year, Jack, when it was clear he could not cut it in redsox. Scouting – very important – not just the stats.

And Dev, I’m sorry I misspell so many players’ names. I am a sorry speller and typist and try hard to not make mistakes but I guess at the spelling of player’s names instead of flipping over to the sox site to look them up. I will get them right as I memorize the correct spellings. I don’t think you should take the misspellings as me being an insincere fan or anything like that.

On the plus side, I love Youk, and I am very happy for him that he is doing well in his big chance. He is a quality guy and is one big reason we have been as successful as we’ve been. I like Lowell too, he reminds me of Meuller, a player I really admire and miss. I also like to see M..L. overcomes some of the naysayers who said he was through because he had one off-season statistically. I like the way Manny came to camp and the way he has comported himself, and I can’t wait for him to go on a tear. I also think he is paying more attention in the field and has been underrated defensively. He sure has an arm as everyone learned last year.

I love the infield defense and the way they gobble up ground balls and make fundamentally beautiful head-up plays on a daily/nightly basis.

And Papi? Are we blessed or what!!

102 wins, Jack? I think you are dreaming. If they get over 90, I will be surprised.

I never bet against the Sox but if did, I would put 100 on every game they win over 90, up to 102, and take your 100, on every game less than 102, down to 90. That would be an interesting bet.

I hope they win 102 because that would surely give us the pennant in this division as currently construed.

Zeke...Boy, are you tempting me with THAT bet....and I haen't taken a sucker baseball bet since I bet the farm on the '69 Orioles in the World series. (^%%$^@# Ron Swoboda!!)

Your talent argument just doesn't make ANY sense. The Sox won 95 games last year, with NO production at first or second, a fielding disaster at short, no Schilling, terrible middle relief and no closer. And you figure they'll be "lucky" to win 5 fewer games because they didn't keep a bunch of declining old guys around???

They add Schilling, Beckett, a healthy Foulke, Papelbon, Youk and a lifetime .300 hitter to replace Bellhorn and they've weakened the team because ol' noodle arm isn't in center?

Amazing!!! You must be Rob Dibble!Obviously injuries could derail the Sox, like any team, but I will be stunned if this team wins fewer than 100 games.

I'm sick of the Globe, and the Dirt Dogs, and the rest of these big media outlets. They talk about how we, the fans, are a black mark on the city of Boston. They're taking the side of a 52 million dollar Yankee. They're quoting Joe Torre like he's an authority on Red Sox matters. They're siding with the Yankees over the Fenway Faithful.

Who owns the Globe and the Dirt Dogs? The New York Times. Something tells me these writers aren't really the Sox fans they pretend to be, if they're willing to write nasty things about the fans, the people who will be faithful to this team no matter what. And why are they doing this? To defend a Yankee.

If you want to cheer, cheer. I was at the game, I booed. And I'm more of a Sox fan than Gordon Edes or any of these other hacks.

Thanks. No offense or insult taken. I am a fan of the Yankees, but I am not a Yankee fan, if you can dig the difference. I am a Red Sox fan, but first and foremost I am a baseball fan -- a lover of the culture.

Besides, I figured you, Redsock, have been chewing on those green leafs that the natives up there in the Andes are so fond of wadding up in their gums. Thems ain't tea leafs, ya know, no matter what they tell you. (;>)

Tell your wife, Laura, that some Sox fan is really enjoying her travelogue and is jealous because he knows what it means to not be able to travel for a long time: it's going on at least 36 months for us now. Our beloved dogs have grown elderly.